‘There was a white flash, then little pieces of fire’
MUM AND DAUGHTER INJURED IN ATTACK TELL HOW BOMB DETONATED IN FOYER
A MUM and daughter hurt in the terror attack at Manchester Arena have told of their horrifying ordeal.
Lizzie Murtagh, 32, and her 12-year-old daughter Olivia Homer, from Beswick, were among thousands of people in the crowd at the Ariana Grande concert before the venue was hit by a suicide bombing.
Lizzie told the M.E.N. how the bomb detonated in the foyer, where parents were waiting to pick their children up, just as concert-goers were walking out of the venue.
“When she finished her last song we walked out straight away out of the main doors into the foyer where they have the merchandise and there was a massive explosion,” she said. “It was like a big white flash and then little pieces of fire. “They’ve said now it was bolts and nuts and that’s what has cut us. “I knew straight away it was a bomb and I gripped Olivia and started running. She was screaming, she didn’t know what it was. There was a woman in front of us who was pouring with blood and there were people on the floor. There was a woman I literally had to jump over.
“My first thought was that there would be another bomb. I thought: ‘Oh my God, I’m going to die.”
Lizzie and Olivia managed to escape from the carnage and flag down a taxi. Only then did they realise they had been hit by shrapnel from the blast.
“I was banging on the window screaming for him to let us in and let three other girls share our taxi as they were terrified, too,” she said.
“That’s when we noticed our injuries.
“I was hit on my leg and bottom, my daughter on her back and bottom.
“We’re lucky to walk away with cuts and bruises.”
They were treated for their injuries at Tameside General Hospital and are now recovering from their trauma at home. “Olivia is just in shock, I don’t think she realises how close she was,” said Lizzie.
“We always go to that arena, she’s seen Ariana Grande there before. She loves her, and for them to be all happy and dancing - and that happens.
“I knew it was full of children and I knew children must have died. It’s horrible. It just makes me feel how lucky I am.”
They’ve said now it was bolts and nuts and that’s what has cut us Lizzie Murtagh